beadenkopf



c. M. BEADENKOPF. TRAFFIC SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I7. 1918. v 1,321,702.I

Patented Nov. 11, 1919.A

2 sum1-SHEET 1.

)h-2.117, atto/:Meza J nti-Signals,

as 'PATENT ortica,

stramien it lnaaramitier, or wititmeroiv, DELAWARE.

TRAFFIC-SIGNAL.

To all whom-'it may concern.'

Beit 'blown that l, CLARENCE M. Benoemnoriya citizen ot the UnitedStates, residing at Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State ofDelaware, have invented certain new and useful Improvements -in Traioiwhich the following is a speci iication.' i I rllhis invention relatesto an `improved trame signal tor motor vehicles and has as vitsprimary'object toprovide a device of this character whereby a driver mayreadily' 'indicate his intended courselcf action so as' to therebyeliminate any confusion of other v tramo drivers 'as well as otpedestrians.

i j 'lhe invention has `as a further object to provide vagievice of thischaracter which may be attachedto the wind shield of a vehicle, or inthe'instance ofa closed vehicle, may-be attached to one side ci'l thebody thereof, and manually operated from 4theldrives seat.

'llhe invention'has as a' still further objectto provide a signalemploying a plurality of semaphore arms or blades which may beselec-tively moved to active signaling position and wherein the said.blades may, at

night, be illuminated so that the signals 'carried 'by the respectiveblades may be readily observed. y

still further object ofthe invention is to provide a device wherein thesignal lamp employed may also be used as a pilot danger signal light..

c .dhd thevinvention has as a still further object to provide a signalof the above described character which will be particularly simple inconstruction and which may be titi installed with a minimum ofdifliculty.

@ther and incidental objects will appear as the description proceeds. lnthe drawings wherein l have illustrated the preferred embodiment of theinvention, and wherein similar reference characters designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views: Figure 1 is afragmentary rear elevation showing my improved signalv applied to thewind shield of a conventional type of motor vehicle.

lllig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and moreparticularly illustrating the normal disposition of' the levers employedfor selectively elevating the semaphore lblades of the signals to activesignaling position..

. the levers and showing one of the semap the rear pane is' preferably"'front of the of the-.l said blades.

lISpeciflcation of Letters Patent. i Painted Nov, 11, 1919, appagante'aies .my i?, iets. serial No. 245,37o.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view more particularly illustrating-.the mcuntin :of im blades removed, and y Fig. 4. is a verticalsectional View showing the manner in which the actuating levers of thesemaphore blades are adapted to be locked in depressed positionsemaphore blades elevated. l In carrying' out the invention I employ alamp casing l0 in which may be arranged a suitable electric lamp 11 andclosing the .ends of the casing are front and rear lass panes 12 and 13respectively. The ront pane may be of red orv white glass while of redglass. Projecting laterally-from one side of the casi is a supportingarm 14 adapted for attac ment to an upright of a motor vehicle windshield. In the drawings, I have, for convenience, conventionally vshownya wind shield in comiection with a 'conventional type of motor vehiclebody 15 and, as particularly brought out in Fig. 2, the lamp casing l()is mounted at the left hand side of the wind shield. In this connectionit may be stated that while l have illustrated my improved signal asattached to a vehicle wind shield, still, as will appear as thedescription proceeds, the device may, in any instance where the vehicleis provided with a closed body, be attached directly to th11 forholdingthe body'to be operated from the dri'vers seat therein.. -Formedin the outer side or" the lamp casing is an opening 16 and mountedwithin the said casing at the inner side of the lamp 11 and oppositesaid opening, is a 're'.tlector 17 adapted to project the rays of 'lightfrom the lampi through the opening.

Connected in any approved manner to the bottom side of the lamp casing10 lodepend vertically therefrom'is an oblong signal casing 18.- 'Thiscasing is preferably formed of sheet metal and is provided with sideWalls 19, a bottom wall 20 and a back wall 21. As shown in Figs. 2 and4C, the signal casing is closed at its top by the lamp casing while thesignal casing is open. Mounted within the signal casing 1s a pluralityof 0blong semaphore blades 22. These'blades may be formed ofsheet metal,celluloid, or other approved material and at their upper ends areswingingly supported by .a pivot rod 23 extending between the side walls19 of the 'signa casing and through the upper ends The blades aredisposed in substantially parallel relation and are or' a.- size to -be'normally received in inactive position within the signal casing to be'oused thereby. Five of the blades are preferably employed and theseblades respectively bear upon opposite sides thereof the words stop,right, left, ahead and pass.

Extending transversely between the side walls 19 of the signal casingadjacent the back wail thereof and in a plane below the pivot rod 23 isa ysecond pivot rod 24, and

swingingly mounted upon this pivot rod is a4 plurality of levers 25 ofthe bell crank type.- rlhe inner arms of these levers are of uniformlength and project loosely through the back wall 21 of the signalcasing. Adjacent their inner' ends, the said inner arms of the leversreceive 'the pivot rod 24 there- `through while, at their outer endspthese `arms carry substantially U-shaped guide members 26 slidablyembracing the bottom edges of the semaphore blades. The outer arms ofthe levers are graduated in length from the arm of the rearmost lever,which is the shortest, to the arm of the foremost lever, which is thelongest. At their outer ends these arms carry knobs or buttons 27 andthese knobs preferably bear respectively, the letters S, R, L, A and P,beginning with the 'shortest arm. These letters are, of course, designedto identify each of the levers with its particular semaphorel blade. Asclearly brought out in Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawings, the semaphoreblades will normally gravitate to assume their inactive position housedwithin the signal casing and the weight of these blades bearingI againstthe inner arms of the levers will serve to normally hold the levers inposition with the inner arms thereof extending' downwardly within thecasing behind the said .blades and with the outer arms of the saidlevers projecting laterally from the ceding description, the outer armsof the levers 25, being held to normally project laterally from thesignal casing at the inner side of the wind shield of the vehicle, nzaybe r'eadily reached from the drivers seat and, owing to the graduatedlength' of the lever arms, any oneparticular arm may be readily graspedby the driver. For giving a signal, the arm so grasped is swungdownwardly to rock that one of the levers inv mamon 25 upon the pivotpin24. Downward movement of the outer arm of such lever will, of course,swing the inner arm of the said lever upwardly when the guide member 26at the free end of the inner arm will ride along the bottom edge ofthecorrespondin semaphore blade for' elevating the said b ade to horizontalactive position, as shown in Fig. 4, projecting laterally from thesignal easing. For retaining the blade in active position, the-outer arm'of the lever may then be engaged within its catch member 28, as

ahead, or may give a signal to other traffic l to pass. Any tendency ofconfusion of other traiic drivers or of pedestrians may accordingly, bythe use of my improved device, be materially lessened. At night, thelamp l1 may be energized from a storage battery or other suitable sourceof electrical energy upon. the vehicle. The rays from this lamp will beprojectedby the reflector 17 through the openings 16 against thesemaphore blades when elevated to activeV position. The blades may thusbe 4easily seen so that the signal will prove equally as eifective foruse at .night as in the day time. Furthermore, the lamp 11 may beemployed as a pilot danger signal lamp for the vehicle when stan-ding soas to permit, if desired, the extinguishment of other lights upon thevehicle with a consequent saving of current.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A traicsignal including a signal casing, a pivoted semaphore bladenormally housed within the casing, and a bell crank )ivoted within thecasin and havin# one arm engagin with the blade at a point beyond thepivotal center of' the blade, the other arm of said crank projectingfrom the casing and being accessible for manually projecting the bladefrom the casing.

2. A tratlic signal including a signal casg, a pivoted semaphore bladenormally housed within the casing, a bell crank pivoted within thecasing and having one arm engaging with the blade, the other arm of saidcrank projecting 'from the casing and being operable for projecting theblade from the casing, and means carried by the casing to engage saidlast mentioned arm of the crank for securing the crank holding the bladeprojected.

3. A traffic signal including a signal casing, a pivoted semaphore bladenormally housed within the easing, a vlever pivoted Within the casingand engaged at one end with the blade, the opposite end of the leverbeing operable for proJecting the blade from the casing, and resilientmeans carried by the easing to clamp the latter end of said levertherebetween for securing lthe lever holding the blade projected.

4. In a traflie signal, the combination with a lamp casing, of a signalcasing secured at one end to the .lamp casing and suspended therefrom, asemaphore blade normally housed Within the signal casing and projectabletherefrom, and means for projecting the blade, the lamp casing beingadapted to receive a lamp for illuminating the semaphore blade whenprojected.

5. In a trafio signal, the combination With a lamp casing and a pilotlight therein, of a signal casing secured at one end to the lamp casingand suspended therefrom, a semaphore blade normally housed Within thesignal casing and proj ectable therefrom, and means for projecting theblade, the pilot light being adapted to illuminate the semaphore bladewhen projected.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLARENCE M. BEADENKOPF. [In 5.]

